The email below (which resembles others we've received) was received by Angela Hoy at WritersWeekly.com this week. We are posting it here to alert other writers to avoid this firm and it's subsidiaries.

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hello! i've been reading info. on your site about janet kay and associates- i am mortified- i sent them 300 dollars a few months ago and have yet to get a person on the phone-- do they do anything legit?? i received a packet with four publishers that she request I (that's right, me, not her) send my manuscript to, and i did send it directly to these four publishers-- it said "agented material" on it, but will they even open it from her?? i am hurt, outraged, crushed, and embarrassed- i have been so proud since receiving her glowing letter only to find she sends it to everyone- i have told everyone i know about this and i now want to crawl into a hole-- please tell me, has she ever responded to you? redeemed herself in any way? gotten anyone a deal with a royalty-paying publishing company? my contract is up in about 2 weeks- do i rule out any chance of actually hearing from a publisher or the "christian" ms. kay again? lastly, i would like to know if you have an email contact for this woman---- (excuse my poor grammar, etc.) i am writing in a hurry, and literally through tears!!!!!!!!!

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Are you a victim of Janet Kay & Associates or one of the other firms they claim to be? She is currently being investigated. Please forward your complaint to:
Det. Brian Elkins, San Angelo Police Department, San Angelo, Texas.
Direct line: (325) 657-4388
Criminal Investigations (325) 657-4351
Email: brian.elkins(at)sanangelopolice.org

I to have been a victim of Ms. Kay. What I did is sat down and wrote all the publishers that Ms. Kay told me to contact , it will be interesting what they will have to say?
There is a phone number that she sent me a couple of weeks ago it is (325) 486-2822
Iguess everyone who has been to her website has seen " All phones are temporarily shut down until I return to the office in a few days" AND It ALSO STATES " Company is Temporarily closed due to major family Illness Check Back at a later time"

I think this is an outrage!!! There are many fine and gifted authors who are trying to get ahead, but there are poeple like this that prey on them.
I hope they find Ms. Kay and throw the book at her, Some way I will get my money back if not by her God will show me another way.
farawayangel

I to have been a victim of her unethical behaviors. she promised me the world and this is my first agent i had ever gone through.

now i dont know who to trust. i feel betrayed, used and even victimized by this woman. thus making me scared to go through any one or even publish my books again. Which is a life long dream to be an author.

How i found out she was a fraud was i had to send sample chapter ( me after being told she would do it) to the list of publishers they had sent she only sent me two lists one in the beginning of all this and the second one right after i talked to the detective which i didn't even waste my time with. any way i had not heard anything so i figured i was going to make some calls to check and see if they received the sample chapters.

one didn't say anything they said they received it and will get back to me. the second one Rand publishing i called well the lady there told me they don't know who Janet kay and associates is that i had sent in an unsolicited manuscript that could have had me blackballed already from getting ever published by a big publishing house. i told the lady well she is my agent she told me to contact you. i didn't know she didn't work with you. the lady told me she never worked with Janet Kay at all.

i then apologized and then she told me she would not list my name as a blackball and that when i get a real agent that they go through then they would consider publishing my book.

i thanked her and hung up crying my eyes out. my heart fell to the ground and my dreams shattered.

here for three weeks prior i am calling her long distance leaving message after message for her to return my call back and she never did.

if i would ever meet her i think i would belt her so hard she would go flying out her window.

so now i have still been writing and since i contacted the detective, i have now as of today finished two book manuscripts but have not found an agent.

Libraries and Web sites [e.g., Preditors & Editors, Absolute Writer & of course, Writer's Weekly] are full of information about choosing an agent.

I'll bet that before you'd hire someone to paint your kitchen or pave your driveway or tune your car you'd check them out, and make certain they were dependable. So why were you so fast to trust Janet Kay?

You've learned a hard lesson, but don't give up. Learn that if something sounds too good to be true, it is.

[/i]BTW Angelstar...your sig line, in which you promote your book, has 3 typos.

Everyone please read advice on all of the many writer sites out there BEFORE you tangle with an agent. Find out about the person before you fork over your hard-earned dollars. It will only take you 5-15 minutes to find out that a writer, no matter how new to the business, should NEVER EVER EVER give money to an agent.

Janet Kay and George Titshaw...well known names in the industry, unfortunately not for the good work that they do! I to was victim to these two and I DID DO MY HOMEWORK! I DID call the BBB and investigated them. Unfortunately at the time, thier record was spotless and there were no complaints. :P I would never send money to ayone without first checking them out.

That fact, coupled with her "christianity" empowered my actions and enthusiasm, so I happily sent them the money required to help with the "marketing" expesnses. I was elated, I was going to finally be published and it was only going to cost me $200.00!!

Unlike most, I was able to contact Janet via telephone which now was probably not a good thing. This just made her more real to me and added to the trust element. She just flowed with sweetness and sincerity..she was GREAT at her game!!

They say timing is everything..well for me, it WAS! I was primed to be roaylly SCAMMED!

I have written to Det. Elkins, to hopefully aide in his investigation. I have all my documentaion to and from her and will glady supply whatever is needed.

It is bad enough to steal from people, but it is horrid to play with their hopes and Dreams.

Hugs,

Pammierose

_________________I have gathered together a bouquet of words grown from the dirt of my own learning and the wisdom of others. My first book is published and can be found at: http://www.lulu.com/pammierose and amazingly enough, it didn't cost me a dime!

Well hello everyone, Janet Kay is an idiot. She has been served with a warrent so she made a new company oh excuse me, had some of her workers form a new company called the Desert Rose Literary Agen. and if you plan on going with them. DON"T unless you want to get scamed. It sucks that so many people got scamed over her. I have a friend that is so embaressed and heart broke that she gave up her dream. I cant believe how much crap this woman has caused. Taking a career as an author is a big decision. But I beleive its the best kind of self employed job. Well good luck to you and yours.

I hope new writers learn from all the postings here because I hear similiar things: I was in a hurry to get published. But how do you "hurry" a career? Can you rush thru college? Can you jump past some other kind of training in order to move your career ahead? Can you pay $200 for a new career? Publishing is LONG AND LABORIOUS. Whether it is an agent that is too quickly acquired or a publisher like Publish America, hey---HINT HINT--publishing is not quick. If anything happens too quickly, be suspicious. The hall mark of true publishing is the ungodly length of time it takes the industry to move and respond.

A writer is a researcher. That includes everything...background checks, business practices, reputations, etc. Knee jerk reactions to easy agents and quick publishers reminds me of people who drag their kids to Model Talent Search Agencies who do they same thing. If you read the Publish America thread on here or any other writers page you will see the same thing. That it is not limited to agents who play with your life--even publishers can do that. People who rushed to get published thru that avenue have also learned the same thing. The tortoise and the hare....just remember...publishing is slow. If its going to fast- heads up.

Wise words, thank you. I think for those of us who were scammed, we were totally green to this idea of writing and getting published. Atleast for me, I had no idea how hard it is or what was/would be involved in this publishing thing. So we get scammed, ripe for the picking by the scam artists out there. They see us new folks coming and must just drool all over themselves.
markc

Greetings-I too was "scammed" but I should have known better. Before I signed with her I researched the web and found a warning about agents who charge "fees" but after reading her Christian ethics I dismissed the warning as paranoia. What I learned was priceless. I know a lot of individuals suffer from her ethics however maybe this experience will deem useful in the future. Take care and glad I found this forum 8)

Actually Janet and her husband are out on bond. When I spoke with Dect. Elkins last week, he told me that it would be a while before they went to trial..unfortunately. :(

_________________I have gathered together a bouquet of words grown from the dirt of my own learning and the wisdom of others. My first book is published and can be found at: http://www.lulu.com/pammierose and amazingly enough, it didn't cost me a dime!

In the meantime, Preditors & Editors (tm) will be watching that region closely for any new agency openings. We know what Janet Kay and George Titsworth represent... only themselves. If they open another agency and we learn of it, we'll post a warning immediately even if we have to do it in the middle of the night.